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I find them to be a close cousin to disruptions,but sometimes you CAN have a moviegoing experience WITHOUT disruptions but you ALWAYS get ads before the film.

Yesterday i went to see the Bourne ultimatum,(i thought that for a third film the pacing was really great,my buddy was pretty meh..)

But before all this rollar-coaster ride and an almost subliminal flashback of the
lovely Franka,we were "treated" with 8 ads.

Now of course save for Alvin raisin poop jokes,you can give me an hour of movie trailers and you will never hear a peep from moi.
But to this day i am still pissed at those ads

Isnt there some kind of non violent film-type of Tazer we could aim at the general manager that would mean " Look buddy i dare you to show me another Toyota-Aquafina type ad and this baby is gonna wrap you in celluloid restraining your movements for two hours and aint going to the bathroom a bitch now!

but then again im thinking if they stop the ads,the small popcorn and Coke will skyrocket to 12 bucks (slowly moving into Running man territory)

I link to an organization devoted to stopping ads before movies. (Captive Audience)

There is also a little card you can print out and give to the manager or quietly leave on the concession stand, which I found at a different site. (News Corpse) The card states that you won't support their concession stand as long as they show ads.

Interesting info on giving feedback to the movie theaters.
I was noticing that before The Bourne Ultimatum, I think going all the way back to Zodiac the same thing of late, all these ads before movies and then another 15 minutes of trailers. I am not sure which is worse, all those trailers or the ads. Why not use the time before the film starts to show the trailers with the lights up and mixing a few ads if they must.
While I might be in the minority, I find aall those trailers before the film starts an annoyance only in the sheer number and mind numbing effect it has.
I thought the new company that took over Century Theaters had more to do with all the ads before the trailers.

For me, at least the trailer might be something that I'll be interested in. I've never went out and bought a Saturn because I saw a commercial at the movie theater.

The only way to ever get rid of the ads before movies is to pay the theaters more money than they're getting from advertisers. And since you're never going to find someone will to spend millions of dollars to buy 'nothing' before a movie, the ads are never going away.

I'm on the 4 to 6 month plan. Time to DVD release. This plan includes a remote with a skip/fast forward,
zero cell phone users, your choice of viewing partners, flexible show times, a 90% reduction of food/drink prices with a wonderful beer/scotch AOK clause, a 100% fuel cost reduction, and last but no least - T shirt/shoeless/nekkid!/clean or stinkin' body (depending on guests of course) dress code.

Plan not availabe to people who have few options for getting away from the house, such as teens, or people hooked on abusing themselves in public places.

For years the way most theaters worked (before they started showing adds) was you sit down, and then the trailers begin at roughly the time given for the start of the movie.
Now they all show adds as well, but all the adds are shown pre-show time, and the trailers still start at the same time they always have.
The actual cinemas are at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to profits gained from these films. Trying to take away a revenue stream from them when it doesn't affect you negatively in any reasonable way just screams of selfishness to me.

"Because he's the hero that Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now... and so we'll hunt him... because he can take it... because he's not a hero... he's a silent guardian, a watchful protector... a DARK KNIGHT."

What Zack said.
I wonder what percentage of the audience purchases nothing from the concession or sneaks in their own goodies and then leaves the containers on the floor.
I don't resent the ads near as much as I do the noisey losers sitting around me.
Someone has to pay the bills.

"I was born to ramble, born to roveSome men are searchin for the Holy GrailBut there ain't nothin sweeter Than riden' the rails."-Tom Waits-

That is why you pay for a ticket! You don't get in for free. If they aren't making money with what they are charging for tickets, they need new management. If they don't make a profit from $5 soda, then there is something seriously wrong.
Besides, I would pay $0.50 more to not have to get ads.

As I'm sure you know, the theatre gets little of the ticket price.
They depend on me buying popcorn & a soda. I never let them down.
A career in theater management? Doesn't seem to attract anyone over the age of 25.

"I was born to ramble, born to roveSome men are searchin for the Holy GrailBut there ain't nothin sweeter Than riden' the rails."-Tom Waits-

I know that movie theaters get the majority of their profit from the sale of food and drinks, but when you've paid $9 for a movie ticket, it's a pain to then pay $4 for a crappy hot dog.
I find myself going to the dollar theater more and more lately. They get most of the movies I want to see, and I don't mind buying a box of candy and a soda when I've only paid $1 for the ticket.
There are very few movies nowadays that I have a burning desire to see on opening week anyhow. I can wait until they arrive at the dollar movie, and whatever doesn't arrive there I can rent on DVD.

That's because it doesn't pay enough for anyone older- I started in the business when I was 18 and got out right before I turned 29, because I realized I was never going to make a decent living of it. I stayed in it as long as I did because I loved it and the pleasure I got out of it made up for the low pay, but after working for Regal and dealing with their idiotic "policies" it just wasn't worth it anymore.
Yes, it's pathetic the way the money gets divided right now. Theaters should get to keep more of the ticket money than they do now- I don't know how to go about changing that, but ideally that's what needs to happen. As a CUSTOMER though, that's not my problem. $9.75 is simply too much to see a movie on the small screens many multiplexes around here have, never mind the inconveniences that come with that. Commercials simply do not belong in movie theaters, and as long as they remain while the prices stay high I'll go to theaters less and less, and I'll boycott anything I do see advertised in a theater. Commercials really do take the element of 'class' out of the atmosphere, and come at the cost of curtains and stage lights (and the new video-projected ads have done away with the ability to select pre-show music appropriate to the movie as well.) It makes the experience more like a large TV with lots of seats than a theater.
My main reason for leaving Regal was that they cared about their on-screen advertising MORE than the movies they were showing, and I couldn't be a part of that at any price. People running some theater chains are more in the advertising business than they are in the movie exhibition business, and that just isn't right. But they do need to stand up to the studios and keep more of the ticket money so they don't have to resort to insulting their customers in the first place. As the song goes, I'd love to change the world, but I don't know what to do.....

I never buy consessions becuase it's too expensive and I certainly don't feel obligated. No offense, but that's a new one. If they want to sell me expensive treats they will have to raise the price of ticket in my area from $6 to $15 and include the dozen pocorn kernals and small cup of ice with half inch of coke in the bottom with the ticket. But seriously, if they need to sell ads to make money then I have no problem with that as long as it doesn't just go on and on and doesn't actually interrupt the actual movie once it gets going.

The ads have become rolled up into a broad 20-minute pre-show entertainment package that typically ends at the movie show-time. At movie show-time, the trailers start. The trailers are a key (and enjoyable) part of the movie-going experience. And then the movie starts.

I don't much care what the theater plays before show-time. But I do prefer today's pre-show video to the 10-minute trivia slide show that I'd see looped two or three times, from seven years ago. Or the blank screen and dull muzak from 10+ years ago.

I don't see what the problem is. (Ok, I do miss the front-row Joe cartoons that Cinemark played in the early '90s )

Ads basically penalize the customers that show up early.
This is only going to increase the number of people trying to find a seat once the lights go down and ruin the beginning of the movie for all.
I say we need to get those who do show up on time to boo out loud any time an ad comes on. Maybe if the entire audience causes a scene, the management might get to feel some of the pain these ads cause.
It would be funny if anytime they showed a commercial, the theater got trashed. Then maybe they would listen.

when I went to see the Transformers (first time in a theater since Shrek 3 with the fam) the lights dimmed at the start time of the movie, THEN we were subjected to 8-10 ads! At least 5 or so minutes of forced ads, then the trailers, then the movie. It was utter crap and when we went to see Shrek, they did not run ads at that time, so something new in our area I guess.